1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an auto-playing apparatus which uses a recording medium having audio data and/or image data recorded thereon and memory means storing, auto-play data to ensure reproduction of the audio data and/or image data in synchronism with auto-playing based on the auto-play data.
2. Description of the Related Art
Auto-playing apparatuses for use in an electronic musical instrument store pitch data and tone length data, corresponding to each note of a piece of music, into a semiconductor memory according to the progress of the music, reads out these data from the memory and send them to a tone generator to automatically play the music as memorized. Such auto-playing apparatuses have been proposed and many electronic musical instruments available on the market today have such a function. The technique of an auto-playing apparatus of this type is disclosed in detail in, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,624,171 by Yuzawa et al.
The auto-playing apparatuses are very effective in learning how to play a music with an electronic musical instrument, because the player or user can objectively judge one's own musical performance by executing auto-playing based on key operating signals, which have been produced by the performance and stored as auto-play data in the memory.
A music generally consists of a plurality of musical parts that are to be played by a plurality of instruments. The learning effect would be further improved if a music including the entire musical parts is played on the background when playing a specific musical part. Playing a melody part while listening to a music being played on the background makes it easier for one to grasp the timing for the melody part that the user should play.
The music which should be played on the background can easily be reproduced by playing an analog record, compact disk (CD) or the like by means of a player. Particularly, it is more effective to use a record or CD on which such a music has been recorded in minus-one format. The minus-one type record or CD is manufactured particularly for those who are learning how to play a piano and has a piano concerto without the piano part recorded thereon, for example. The user therefore plays his own musical instrument while reproducing the musical recorded in the minus-one format.
In this case, as described above, the learning effect would be enhanced by using the aforementioned auto-playing apparatus to auto-play the music data recorded on the record, CD or the like. This auto-playing requires that the minus-one type record, CD or the like be played first and the auto-playing apparatus be started at the proper timing for the musical part which the user should play.
Unless the auto-playing apparatus is started at a predetermined timing, however, sounds reproduced from the recording medium and the auto-playing would be a synchronized, thus preventing the learning effect from further being improved.
In particular, it is very difficult through a manual operation to auto-play only a specific part of a single piece of music, not the whole piece of music, and to play a CD or the like in synchronism with the auto-playing of the specific part.
It can be considered that reproduction of auto-play data and reproduction of image data can be simultaneously performed by a recording medium in which image data is recorded. For example, in a case where a score for a piece of music to be automatically played is recorded as image data, an operator can extremely easily input auto-play data if the operator inputs auto-play data as seeing the display of the score image. Also, the melody of auto-playing music can be confirmed as seeing the display the score image at the time of reproduction. Moreover, if a background image, which is appropriate for an image of auto-playing music, the lyrics of auto-playing music, a profile of auto-playing music are recorded as image data in the recording medium, there can be enhanced enjoyment of music which cannot be obtained in the case when only the auto-play is performed at the time of reproduction.
However, similar to the case of the above-mentioned auto reproduction, the manual reproduction staring operation causes the shift of synchronization in the case of the reproduction of the auto-play data and that of image data.